Report: Firefighters disabled seatbelt alarms in vehicles

Four members of an Orange County Fire Authority crew were taken to a hospital March after their fire engine struck a pine tree in March. Two of the four firefighters in the crew were not wearing their seatbelts officials said.RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Firefighters aboard an engine that crashed into a pine tree in March were not wearing seatbelts, authorities said, including a fire captain who crashed through the window.

When investigators got a closer look at the fire engine, they also found the seat sensors and buzzer – which alerts the crew when someone is not buckled in – had been disconnected and covered with duct tape.

Only minor injuries were reported in the crash. The fire crew aboard Orange County Fire Authority’s Engine 61 in Buena Park had been rushing down Crescent Ave. on March 13 with lights and siren on when the vehicle hit the tree with enough force to cut down the top 15 feet of it and cause nearly $250,000 in damage to the truck.

Within a month, the fire authority found eight more fire engines and trucks rigged by firefighters in the same way – with disconnected sensors and covered alarms to muffle the sound, officials said.

Not wearing a seatbelt and altering equipment in that way is against the agency’s policy, and administrators with the county’s largest fire agency found themselves having to remind emergency workers to buckle up.

“The incident is bad enough,” Battalion Chief Kelly Zimmerman said. “We should know better than to do these things.”

Details of the Buena Park crash and the disabled seatbelt alerts came to light during a meeting of the fire authority’s board of directors, after county Supervisor Todd Spitzer asked for more details on a request to repair the fire engine at station 61.

The staff report noted it would cost $241,114 to fix the fire engine, though it was covered by insurance except for a $3,000 deductible. The report also stated that investigators had ruled out “mechanical deficiencies” as the cause.

Spitzer said he learned that several of the firefighters on board were not wearing seatbelts after requesting additional information, and that the driver of the truck was found to have made an unsafe turn while traveling at an unsafe speed.

“I regret having asked for this document because it was so shocking,” Spitzer said. “Our own fire safety personnel had disconnected the safety mechanism best designed to protect them.”

Irvine Councilman Jeffrey Lalloway, who also serves on the fire authority 25-member board, said he learned of the system being “jerry-rigged” on the day of the board meeting. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The disconcerting thing is, I learned it from Todd (Spitzer), who did his own investigation.”

Lalloway said details of the crash, or of the vehicles that were altered, were not shared with the board before the meeting, and he’s grown concerned about OCFA staff not providing details of important issues to the board.

“They just don’t tell us things,” he said. “I’m shocked that we’re not kept up to speed on the activities and problems that occur at the fire authority.”

Exactly when the sensors were rigged is not known, but fire officials learned about it after the Buena Park crash, Zimmerman said.

Firefighters had complained in the past about the sensors in the trucks, he said, which are meant to remind passengers to buckle up but would sometimes activate in the middle of the drive.

Four members of an Orange County Fire Authority crew were taken to a hospital March after their fire engine struck a pine tree in March. Two of the four firefighters in the crew were not wearing their seatbelts officials said. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority firefighters inspect Engine 61 after a crash at intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park on March 13. Four firefighters were taken to UCI Trauma Center. RICHARFD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority firefighter checks Engine 61 after a March accident at intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority firefighter checks Engine 61 after a March accident at the intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority battalion takes photo of Engine 61 after a March accident at the intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority firefighters remove equipment from Engine 61 after a March accident at Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
People take photos of scene as Orange County Fire Authority firefighters investigate scene after Engine 61 was involved in accident at intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park in March. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County Fire Authority firefighter checks Engine 61 after a March accident at the intersection of Crescent and Los Altos in Buena Park. RICHARD KOEHLER, FOR ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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